Takata Emails Reveal Tampering

Jan. 5, 2016—Internal emails from Takata show that employees were manipulating test data as far back as 2000, according to a report by The New York Times. The timing of the emails began around the same time as Takata introduced a new airbag inflater.

According to the Times report, an airbag engineer wrote, "Happy Manipulating!!!" in a 2006 email, referencing airbag test results. Later in that same email chain, the engineer wrote, "Hey, I manipulated," and suggested using "thick and thin lines to try and dress ... up" test results "or changing colors to divert attention,” according to the report.

Takata reported that the engineer was talking about a presentation, but the Times spoke to four airbags experts who believe the emails were talking about misrepresenting data.